...And so it continues... chillwave. That’s right, we’re not quite out of the woods yet. Hailing from Brooklyn, indie-electronic duo Javelin’s debut album (following last year’s off-the-buzz-o-meter demos collection, Jamz n Jemz) is similarly all about the groove, the washy synths, and the samples. But this certainly isn’t your run-of-the-mill, 2009 chillwave. Nope, welcome to 2010; Javelin’s beats are much less blissed-out, much more lock-step. It’s a stylistic distinction that benefits the band two fold—first and foremost it’s nice to not really be able to compare an electronically based artist to the genre’s already-worn staples (Washed Out, Neon Indian, et al.), and second, No Más is a much more dance-floor friendly affair. Javelin have got something those other groups are missing: energy, pure and simple. And it’s the energy of a kindergartner; the beats are snappy, punchy, sassy, and absolutely bouncing-off-the-walls fun, unearthing the type of carefree, merrymaking, good time emotions the genre somehow largely forgot. But as any self-respecting grade school teacher will tell you, there’s a problem when you have the energy of a five year old—you’ll likely have the attention span of one as well.

To wit, Javelin are at their best when their ideas are grounded, focused, and fully realized, and at their worst when they’re not, and the divide is fairly easy to recognize. The more clear-cut, single-worthy tracks find Javelin in top form. The best of these, “Oh! Centra,” is marvelously done—infectious, fun, and well constructed with a catchy hook, goofy rap (in a weird, hilarious chipmunk voice waxing about kangaroos, cats, and strange yet-to-be-coined dances like something called “the monkey foot”), and overall flow of a great hip hop track complete with stylish breaks in the beat and culminating with a wind down in the mix.

Then there are the tracks like “Mossy Woodland.” Nice melody hooked in with a string arrangement, a nice, plump beat pounded home with a cannonball bass drum, but the track inexplicably fades after less than two minutes without so much as a wave goodbye. Dance-based or not, and this may be cliché, but the best music should strive to tell a story, and all stories have a beginning, middle, and end. It’s a simple, tried and true formula, and though Javelin’s got the first 2/3’s down pat, it’s the send off that not only needs work, but fails to make an appearance, period. And this is where the record as a whole struggles as well. With little dynamic contrast from track to track, No Más has the feel of a singles collection rather than a full-fledged album with a definite shape, purpose, or arc. The last track, “Goal \Wide” is perhaps the biggest disappointment of all as its warped, chopped up vocal samples and delicate glockenspiel are more than intriguing enough draw you in before the song literally falls off the edge of a cliff, leaving a huge question mark where there should have been an exclamation point.

But if we can indeed treat this as the singles collection it sounds like, we can start to dig into where No Más is an exciting triumph. Musically, Javelin provide a lot of flavors to digest, and they’re all equally tasty, defined, and blended to proportionate perfection. There’s soul, R&B, electro, breakbeat, hip hop, funk, and even old school sit-com-like themes: Javelin’s influences are fractured, diverse, and combine abstractly in a way that manages to be weird without delving into outsider territory or holding pop culture at arm’s length. “Intervales Theme” and “Susie Cues” have the feel of the Go! Team jamming on the corner of Sesame Street while “Dep” finds the band slowing the tempo down into a soulful ELO-style ballad complete with mellow cellos and wah-wah-ed and warbled guitars. The beats have a percussive pep as snares are always kept appropriately tight and crisp making the backbeats really pop while samples and instruments remain varied and diverse, ranging from flutes to kalimbas, offering a uniquely layered, multi-textured sound.

I hate to back-pedal here to close, but “Oh! Centra”...my, my, my, it’s just sizzling hot—indeed, one of the year’s finest tracks to date. It’s a clear hint that Javelin’s beats have just the right flare for some smoking verses, and this is sadly the only track on the record that has any kind of rapping in it whatsoever. And Javelin’s raps aren’t even that good: “I try to stroke you / You play me like sudoku...” But given the sheer formal structure of the majority of No Más, this collection points more toward an artist with a bright future in the realm of production rather than it does a band with the power to wow broad audiences at shows with brilliant arrangements and stunning song writing dexterity. Not that this is what Javelin is going for, it’s just that this could be the next step for something as big as hip hop itself. With that, sometimes hooks and beats are enough, and here they’re all more than strong enough to carry their weight.

Track List:
1. Vibrationz
2. Mossy Woodland
3. Oh! Centra
4. On It On It
5. Intervales Theme
6. We Ah Wi
7. Tell Me, What Will It Be?
8. Moscow 1980
9. The Merkin Jerk
10. C Town
11. Off My Mind
12. Susie Cues
13. Shadow Heart
14. Dep
15. Goal \Wide